Ukip leader Nigel Farage said he is making his way to Westminster following the party’s victory in the European elections.

Mr Farage said Ukip will give it our best shot" in next week's by-election in Newark and was hoping to secure "a good number" of MPs when the country goes to the polls in May 2015.

The Eurosceptic party finished top in the area last night, despite trailing the Tories by 25,000 votes in the 2010 general election.

"The people's army of Ukip are on their way to Newark," Mr Farage said. "We are going to give it our best shot."

Summing up the aftermath of last night's results, he said: "Nick Clegg's in the most trouble, Ed Miliband's in quite a lot of trouble, David Cameron's in some trouble.

"If we were to win Newark, David Cameron would be in even more trouble than Nick Clegg. If we were to overturn this massive majority they have got, it would be a very hot, long summer in the Tory Party."

Asked whether his stunning victory was the result of a protest vote, Mr Farage said: "It's beginning to look like a permanent protest."

It was the first time for more than a century that a national vote has not been won by either the Conservatives or Labour, as voters turned away from mainstream parties throughout Europe.

Mr Cameron insisted he was not ready to countenance any pact with Ukip, saying that all-out victory for the Conservatives was "achievable" and was the only way to guarantee an in/out referendum on Britain's membership of the European Union (EU).

Ed Miliband insisted that Labour was "in a position where we can win the general election", despite disappointing results which saw the party perform strongly in London but barely scrape into second place nationally, less than two percentage points ahead of the Tories.